Social Cognition by Sommerville, Jessica; Decety, Jean;

Short description:

Social Cognition brings together diverse and timely writings that highlight cutting-edge research and theories on the development of social cognition and social behavior across species and the life span.

Long description:

Social Cognition brings together diverse and timely writings that highlight cutting-edge research and theories on the development of social cognition and social behavior across species and the life span. The volume is organized according to two central themes that address issues of continuity and change both at the phylogenetic and the ontogenetic level. First, it addresses to what extent social cognitive abilities and behaviors are shared across species, versus abilities and capacities that are uniquely human. Second, it covers to what extent social cognitive abilities and behaviors are continuous across periods of development within and across the life span, versus their change with age.

This volume offers a fresh perspective on social cognition and behavior, and shows the value of bringing together different disciplines to illuminate our understanding of the origins, mechanisms, functions, and development of the many capacities that have evolved to facilitate and regulate a wide variety of behaviors fine-tuned to group living.

"A stand-out volume for scholars of mind and behavior. The first of its kind, it integrates work on social cognition and social behavior, and it addresses in detail cross-species and cross-age constants and change.　There is an impressive amount to learn from these state-of-the-art, clearly written contributions." – Bertram F. Malle, Professor, Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, Brown University

"This is an outstanding collection of work on social cognition, bringing together both developmental and comparative perspectives. It will be a definitive text on these topics for years to come. Any student interested in the origins of empathy, altruism and prosocial behavior will benefit from this engaging and comprehensive work." – Laura Schulz, Associate Professor, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Table of Contents:

Part 1: Change and Continuity in Social Cognition: Cross-Species Aspects of Social Cognition and Behavior 1. Prosocial Behavior and Interindividual Recognition In Ants: From Aggressive Colony Defense To Rescue Behavior Elise Nowbahari, Alain Lenoir and Karen L Hollis 2. A Comparative Perspective on Helping and Fairness Katherine A. Cronin and Lydia M. Hopper 3. Social Cognition in Animals Robert M. Seyfarth and Dorothy L. Cheney Part 2: Change and Continuity in Social Cognition Across the Lifespan: Starting States and the Role of Experience 4. Empathy Development throughout the Lifespan Florina Uzefovsky Florina and Ariel Knafo-Noam 5. Drivers of Social Cognitive Development in Human and Non-Human Primate Infants Sarah A. Gerson, Elizabeth A. Simpson, Annika Paukner 6. Moral Development: Conflicts and Compromises Marine Buon, Marianne Habib and Darren Frey 7. How Young Children Come to View Harming Others as Wrong: A Developmental Analysis of Research from Western Communities Audun Dahl and Gabriella F. Freda Part 3.:Change and Continuity in Social Cognition across the Lifespan: Social Cognition and Social Learning in Childhood 8. Dopamine and Theory of Mind in Preschoolers Mark A. Sabbagh 9. Using MRI to Study Developmental Change In Theory Of Mind Hilary Richardson and Rebecca Saxe 10. Young Children’s Flexible Social Cognition and Sensitivity to Context Facilitates Their Learning Christopher Vrendenburgh, Yue Yu, and Tamar Kushnir Part 4: Change and Continuity in Social Cognition across the Lifespan: Social Cognition and Social Behavior 11. Lifespan Developmental Changes in the Neural Underpinnings of Empathy Yawei Cheng 12. Decomposing False-Belief Performance Across the Lifespan Alisha Coolin, Ashley L. Fischer, Andre Aβfalg, Wendy Loken Thornton, Jessica A. Sommerville, and Daniel M. Bernstein 13. Multidisciplinary Perspective on Prosociality in Aging Natalie C. Ebner, Phoebe E. Bailey, Marilyn Horta, Jessica A. Joiner, and Steve W. C. Chang